Junior Crew
The Junior Crew was one of the eight crews of the DiMeo crime family. Founded in about 1960 by Corrado 'Uncle Junior' Soprano, the Junior crew was one of the first crews of the DiMeo crime family, and, certainly during the 1990s, the biggest. However, due to the DiMeo civil war of 99, the crew suffered a great financial blow and lost many of its members. The crew eventually went defunct in 2006, when Bobby Bacala, the crew's Capo, was promoted to Underboss, and Soldier (and final member) Beppy Scerbo was transferred to the Soprano crew. Foundation and Junior's reign (circa.1960-1999) The crew was founded in about 1960 by mobster Corrado "Uncle Junior" Soprano. Junior had been a longtime associate and friend of Eckley DiMeo, who was the Boss of this family. He therefore, out of kindness, supplied Junior with his own crew. The Junior Crew soon grew and grew until in 1990, when it had reached its peak of 12 members. Despite this, the Junior Crew was arguably the most hated crew, due to the fact it was led by Junior (a mobster who was considered the weaker brother of Johnny Boy Soprano, who had died back in 1989). Also, the crew was comprised of some generally nasty objects, notably Beppy Sasso, Mikey Palmice, Philly Spoons and Chucky Signore. Junior felt that he should have been boss of the family when Eckley had been imprisoned in 1995, since he was the oldest and most experienced of all the members, as well as being the brother of Ercoli's sworn successor, Johnny Boy, who had died 6 years back. In 1999, however, Junior got that chance. When acting boss Jackie Aprile Sr. died of lung cancer, Junior was promoted to boss of the family. Although he had the title of boss, the captains in the family and Johnny Sack, New York's emissary and underboss of the Lupertazzi crime family, knew that the real brains of the outfit was fellow capo Tony Soprano, who actually ran the show and the family's businesses. Junior also brought in the new hierarchy-related difference of including an underboss and a consigliere. Junior, much to everyone's disbelief, installed Beppy Sasso as underboss and Mikey as consigliere. Junior then promoted Philly Parisi to capo of his old crew. He also gained the distrust of the family's captains due to his actions: clipping Rusty Irish, one of the Barese Crew's best earners, busting up a card game under the protection of Jimmy Altieri, and attempting to tax Hesh Rabkin. Conspiracy/Civil War of '99 and Philly Spoons's reign (1999-2000) ' ' After Philly Spoons had been promoted to Capo, Mikey Palmice secretly attempted to get Tony Soprano clipped. This was because Mikey and Tony had a long term rivalry and both wanted each other dead. Mikey told Junior that Tony was an FBI informant, though Junior refused to believe such nonsense. Later though, Junior found out from Tony's mother, Livia, that Tony was in fact seeing a therapist. Junior soon started to see sense in Mikey's beliefs, and decided to secretly start a conspiracy against Tony, a group of mobsters that wanted him dead. The conspiracy was made up of six people: Junior (Boss), Beppy Sasso (Underboss), Mikey (Consigliere), Spoons (Capo), Chucky (Soldier), and Donnie Paduana (Associate). The conspiracy created, Junior and Mikey started to devise an assassination attempt. They chose Donnie as their supplier in terms of assassins. They decided that if Donnie failed, Mikey and Chucky would be the next people to pull triggers on Tony. Donnie hired two assassins, telling them to make it clean and simple. The assassination didn't go to plan though, leaving one of the assassins dead, with his partner fleeing the scene after he attained severe injuries from being pushed off a moving car by Tony. Tony only gained a slight ear injury, and was soon out of hospital. Infuriated, knowing of Junior's plan (the FBI showed him recordings of his uncle plotting with fellow conspirators, in an attempt to make him become an informant, which he declined), Tony devised a plan of his own - to wipe out the conspiracy and to leave the Junior crew, in a harmless (though not completely inactive) state. Tony first chose his targets, sparing several members of the crew who hadn't been part of the conspiracy. This included soldiers Gigi Cestone and Patsy Parisi (Spoons's twin brother), both of who Tony transferred to his own crew, due to their loyalty to him. Tony also spared soldiers Murf Lupo and Beppy Scerbo, as well as Bobby Bacala and the Terminator, due to the fact they were all oblivious to the conspiracy. Due to Patsy's transfer, however, Tony decided not to have Spoons clipped, since it might make Patsy turn on Tony, since he would want revenge for the death of his brother. Instead, Tony called out hits on the remainder of the conspiracy - Junior, Beppy Sasso, Mikey, Chucky and Donnie. However, Tony soon found out that Donnie had been killed by Mikey for failing to assassinate Tony, by two shots in the head whilst starting up his car. Chucky was murdered and desposed of a few days later by Soprano Crew soldier Sil Dante and Tony himself, via several shots to the stomach and chest. Mikey was chased through a forest whilst on his morning jog by soldier Paulie Gualtieri and Associate Chrissy Moltisanti. When Mikey tripped up on a branch, both Soprano crew members opened the guns onto him. As for Beppy Sasso and Junior, both were arrested, Sasso being given a life sentence and Junior awaiting a retrial. With Sasso in jail for life, Tony was promoted to Underboss. Spoons lasted another year as Capo until in early 2000, when Tony noticed that he had started spreading rumors about him (Tony) again, in an attempt to get Tony murdered. Tony had him executed by Gigi, who fired two shots into Spoons's head whilst Spoons was in his car. Murf's reign (2000-2002) After Spoons's death, Murf Lupo was promoted to Capo. Although Murf was happy, Tony had only promoted him simply because there needed to be a new Capo of the crew. Otherwise, Tony saw no real qualities in Murf and even considered him too elderly and, ultimately, not the brightest light in the intelligence department. Murf's reign was a quiet, undisputed one. With the exception of Terminator's death (after he died in a car crash due to being unable to reach his inhaler on the car floor (he had lung cancer), and suddenly went into an exhausted almost paralysed state while driving), there were no special events or moments under Murf's leadership. In 2002, Murf developed dementia, and it was soon clear to Tony that it was time for Murf to retire, opening the space for Capo of the Junior crew available yet again. Bobby Bacala's reign (2002-2006) After Murf retired, Tony promoted Bobby Bacala to Capo of the Junior crew. Like Murf, its fair to say that Tony promoted Bacala because he had to (Bacala and Beppy Scerbo were the only members left in the crew). Bacala, however, surprised Tony, who had always thought Bacala was slightly incapable mobster; he soon became the second highest earning Capo (after Ralphie Cifaretto of the Aprile crew), and was well respected by Tony. Tony also found that he hadn't taken his job lightly or for granted, and had simply done the best he could to impress Tony. Tony had originally picked Chrissy as his successor, in case Junior died or was arrested, and then if Tony died afterwards. However, Tony was now seeing Bacala as a better pick - more capable as a leader (Chrissy was known for his drug addiction) and likeable attitude, though solid earning skills. This made fellow Capo Paulie of the Soprano crew jealous, since he saw himself as the obvious successor of Tony. Bacala was also Tony's brother-in-law, so the two spent a lot of time together, another factor that made Paulie jealous. In 2006, whilst looking after his uncle who was under house arrest, Tony was shot by Junior, who by now had developed severe dementia and had mistaken Tony for an old enemy of his. Tony was put into a coma, and Sil (Consigliere of the family) decided to remove Junior from the family, and promote Tony to official Boss. As for Underboss, Tony would have to make a decision if he came out of the coma. If not, there would be a vote. The five most likely candidates were speculated as Capos Chrissy, Vito Spatafore, Paulie, and Bacala himself, as well as Consigliere Sil Dante. Tony did recover from his comatose state, and immediately promoted Bacala to Underboss. He subsequently transferred Beppy Scerbo to the Soprano crew. As Scerbo was the last member of the crew, the crew went defunct after his transfer. Bacala was later murdered in 2007 during the Lupertazzi - Soprano conflict. List of members of the Junior crew Corrado "Uncle Junior" Soprano - Capo (circa.1960-1999), promoted to Boss, arrested, interned in 2006 due to development of dementia. Joseph "Beppy" Sasso - Soldier (circa.1980-1999), promoted to Underboss, given a life sentence for racketing. Michael "Mikey Grab Bag" Palmice - Soldier (circa.1980-1999), promoted to Consigliere, murdered by Christopher and Paulie on orders from Anthony 'Tony' Soprano for creating a conspiracy against Tony in an attempt to get him assassinated. Philip "Philly Spoons" Parisi - Soldier (circa.1980-1999), Capo (1999-2000), murdered by Gigi on orders from Tony Soprano for spreading nasty rumors about him in order to make him unpopular. Murf Lupo - Soldier (circa.1960-2000), Capo (2000-2002), retired due to dementia. Robert 'Bobby Bacala' Baccalieri Jr. - Soldier (circa.1980-2002), Capo (2002-2006), promoted to Underboss, murdered in 2007 by Lupertazzi crime family hitman on orders from Phil, during his attempt to 'decapitate' the DiMeo crime family during the War of 2007. Pasquale 'Patsy' Parisi - Soldier (circa.1980-1999), transferred to Soprano crew. Gigi Cestone - Soldier (circa.1980-1999), transferred to Soprano crew, died in 2001 of a heart attack. Giuseppe 'Beppy' Scerbo - Soldier (circa.1960-2006), transferred to Soprano crew. Charles 'Chucky' Signore - Soldier (circa.1980-1999), murdered by Sil and Tony for being part of the conspiracy that was against Tony. Robert 'The Terminator' Baccalieri Sr. - Soldier (circa.1960-2001), died in a car crash. Donnie Paduana - Associate (circa.1990-1999), murdered by Mikey for failing to assassinate Tony. George "Gus" Esposito - Associate (circa.1999-2006), bodyguard of Junior Soprano. Category:Crews Category:DiMeo crime family Category:Soldier